'LSE is too important be treated like this' says Mayor Livingstone

The Mayor of London is calling for all attempts to take over the London Stock Exchange to be referred automatically to the Competition Commission.

Speaking after the defeat of Nasdaq's £2.7bn offer for the British bourse, Ken Livingstone said he believes that the LSE is so crucial to the strength of the City of London that it should not be viewed as just another company.

Mr Livingstone failed in his attempt to have Nasdaq's £12.43-a-share bid for the LSE referred to the Competition Commission and is known to have contacted the Trade and Industry Secretary, Alistair Darling, and Ed Balls, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, about the matter.

"In the modern globalised world a city can lose its competitive edge extremely rapidly, as the current problems of New York show," the Mayor said.

"It is irresponsible that a shift as fundamental as the takeover of the LSE can take place without a thorough examination."

He also appears to be opposed to foreign takeovers of UK companies. "It is inadequate to keep repeating that the nationality of a bidder does not matter. That far from exhausts the range of issues that have to be taken into account," he said.

His comments echo those of Rolls-Royce's chief executive, Sir John Rose, who said at the weekend that the UK was in danger of turning into an "aircraft carrier" for foreign companies without addressing the economic consequences.

Nasdaq revealed on Saturday that just 0.41pc of shareholders accepted its takeover offer for the LSE. Even combined with its own 28.75pc stake, it was a long way short of the 50.01pc required to succeed.

The LSE, whose chief executive Clara Furse has fended off several approaches for the exchange, said it looked "forward to fulfilling its vision to be the world's capital market, without the distraction of ill-considered approaches which fail to understand the value of the business".

The LSE is in talks with the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which are likely to lead to a memorandum of understanding within weeks.